An Unwavering Emotion
by SulfurHeart
Summary: Atsuki x Ceres / Crack couple but very compatible and quite cute. 3 / Finally, it's time to realize your feelings. It's hard to hide from the truth.


This is a random one-shot for my friend Shiranui (the amazing girl who's got me hooked on 3 new anime/manga shows now)… xD So first things first, I don't own the characters in this story, so credit to their original creators. The plot is based on a RP idea that we'd come up with… So, no stealing. I bet you won't, my lovelies! Onto the story xD

"A toy, easily replaced, is all you are," Ceres commented quietly, staring him straight in the eyes. Was it really true? Was this the way she felt? After all he'd done for her…He'd been warned multiple times, yes, but he had fooled himself into believing that what he'd built with her was something more meaningful than what she had just crushed beneath her foot.

_A toy_…Saijo thought to himself, pondering over the words, evaluating each one, weighing it in his mind. _A toy…A stupid, foolish toy. _Saijo looked up at her, shaking his head, a bitter smile playing across his lips. This was a folly on his part, was it not? He'd known the possible consequences for letting himself fall for an immortal woman with an attitude and fetish for using and throwing away men like they were nothing but objects. Saijo was inwardly laughing dryly to himself. What was a man that let himself go without so much as thinking of keeping a small piece of his heart to rebuild off after the fall? How stupid. This was idiotic. He shouldn't have bothered with her in the first place.

Saijo scanned her over again and his gaze immediately hardened, to match that of her own, "Well then find another toy to mess with. I'm not going to stand here and waste my time trying to be faithful to a woman who will never be faithful to me." _What did I do wrong? _Saijo turned on his heel and began to walk away, fists laying clenched by his sides as he stared intently on the ground beneath his feet, reflecting on everything he'd just let happen. Maybe a man who was really in love would've pleaded for her love back. Maybe a man who'd really actually cared would tell her how much she meant to him and how he'd not be able to take another painless breath without her by his side. Saijo couldn't fool himself into believing he'd never actually been in love with her, though.

It was rare that the grey-haired adolescent cared for a person that wasn't himself. So knowing it hurt inside with her words helped him reach the conclusion he'd actually been in love. But after the storm comes a rainbow, correct? At the moment, Saijo didn't see any metaphorical rainbow on the horizon for him. Saijo laughed grimly to himself, pretending not to notice the receding footsteps of Ceres as they gradually moved away from each other. A fool's love! That's what it was. Atsuki'd told himself time and time again that his vanished father and deceased mother and sister were going to be the only people he ever loved or cared to search for, even beyond the grave. How he'd come upon Ceres, he may never know, but he could only say how he felt was an emotion that would stay impounded on his heart for the rest of his mortal life.

Yet there was a deep, selfish anger that rose from deep within his heart. She was going to go off and mess around and dispose of other men that actually loved her, like he had. Was the woman ignorant enough to know she hurt somebody every time she decided she was going to discard them and find a new one to keep her interest going? Perhaps it was her Tennyo nature that allowed her to abandon the feelings of men…or maybe the pain of her past was too much for her to bear and this was her way of shutting it out? Saijo may never know, now, but the more he thought on it the more he realized he didn't care anymore. A heartbroken man was as useless as a dead man. How could he bother to keep himself aloft and with his mind cleared, to work for the Fort successfully, if all he could think about was a woman who could love garbage more than she could allow herself to love him.

Wasn't love the thing she'd wanted? A family? Atsuki, in a fool-hearted and act of idiocy, had been ready to give her that, if only she'd accepted. Saijo knew a past like hers was one that was hard to forget… but then again, so was his. His mother and sister killed before his eyes… they'd both lost two people close to them; the only difference was the killers. Saijo had jumped at the chance to receive the love from someone who could somewhat relate to how he'd felt after the loss had pitted itself against him and buried itself deep within his heart in a crevice too small for Atsuki himself to seek out. Love was a petty notion, wasn't it? Hadn't Saijo heard that phrase one too many times? Maybe the visual imagery and impacting thoughts of love and the life that love brought with it was too hard for Saijo to resist. Moving onward, Saijo looked around. Kisaragi City… It seemed so dull and empty without her smile and, even if she wasn't smiling, her presence by his side.

_A whisper on the wind, a glint of the ray of sun, and the laughter of an angel…_Saijo thought to himself quietly. _Angels… maybe it was just an illusion? A trick of the eye—of the heart… Is it wrong to wish it wasn't an illusion? _

"Saijo! Saijo, I was looking for you!" It was the familiar voice of Nami Kamishiro. Saijo looked over to the young girl, the oversized golden retriever Melody close behind her. He smiled weakly, ignoring the young girl and continuing to walk onward. He managed to catch the quiet: "…Saijo?" from Nami's lips before he walked out of her range of sight.

_Love makes you do insane things,_ Atsuki told himself quietly. "I just fell in love with a falsehood. Hearts heal. Time is the best medicine." Saijo looked around. Perhaps the quiet beauty of Rainbow Hill would be his destination. There he'd let go the memories of his mother and sister, and there he'd let his heart go, along with the wish that Ceres hadn't said those things to him. All the things she'd said to him, not just the ones that'd left pinpricks in his heart. He'd bleed out eventually, right? So why let it be over something he'd never get back? He'd pick out a safer path next time; one that didn't involve losing himself over a woman.

_**Later**_

The sunset on Rainbow Hill was lovely: the golden rays of sun giving their last goodbyes over the surface of the crystalline blue waters, the fluffy clouds dyed pinks and rosy oranges, with some hues of red and dark violet strewn across their surfaces. The sound of waves crashing along the rocks that separated land from sea was calming and allowed Atsuki's mind to rid itself of its heavy burdens. _A truly relaxing place…_Atsuki pondered to himself, looking over the beds of flowers, the intricately carved statue, and the decorative iron railings that lined the sidewalk, splitting it from the ocean below. Saijo could've—and would've—gladly stayed there for the remainder of the evening and possibly well into the evening if it weren't for the footsteps he heard behind him, faintly scuffling on the green grasses of the hill.

Turning his head to look, Saijo was caught completely off guard by the woman standing there, who stopped as soon as their gazes met. A million questions leaped to the front of Saijo's mind, but he managed to keep a straight face as he stared at her…his heart pounding madly in his chest as he tried to quell the feeling of hope and despair that were rapidly trying to break free of him via word-of-mouth.

_What does she want now? To humiliate me one last time before taking her leave, as well as the rest of my heart? …As I think upon it, she's already taken all of my heart that has been left to take. There is nothing more she can take from me besides my life. Does she plan on taking that as well…? _

Trying his best to keep a straight face, Atsuki stared at Ceres, "Is there a reason you have come back to me? Or are you simply here to enjoy the scenery…simply coming here to flaunt yourself in front of me, knowing that I am well aware of the fact I could never have what I've fallen in love with?"

Without a reply, Saijo continued to stare. Was that it…? She came to stare at him until he suffered from mad insanity and stormed away? Would that quench her need to hurt him! Scowling deeply, Saijo stared at her until she parted her lips to say something,  
"Love…what is it?"

The words were faint enough that Saijo almost missed what she'd said, but once he'd processed the words that had passed from her mouth; he stopped and stared at her incredulously. _Love? What is love? Is that all she wanted to know…? How is that something I can answer for her in a way that won't send her running from me…in a way that won't cause her to turn her sharp tongue on me and tell me off… I don't see an easy way out. I guess this will be the first and last time I bother to say what's on my heart._ Standing up, Saijo walked over to her, instinctively wrapping his arms around Ceres.

"Love is an emotion felt not only by the eyes but by the heart. An emotion that's inseparable once two have found each other…and those two are like two pieces of a mismatched puzzle…Love is what I felt—and still feel—for you." Atsuki looked softly into her eyes, somewhat afraid of how she'd react. Instead of pulling herself away from him like he'd expected, she buried her head against his chest and he heard the faint, almost inaudible, sounds of crying. Pulling her closer to him, he ran his hand through her hair gently.

_It's what I felt…and still feel…for you._


End file.
